How To Remove Common Stains

Be The Guy Whose Shirts Always Look Fresh

How to remove it: After soaking the fabric in cool water, rub a bar of soap on the stain. Then, before it can dry, launder the item with detergent and bleach (once again, use color-safe bleach if it isn't white) in the hottest possible water.

InkWhat you need: rubbing alcohol, detergent, hairspray, a dry cloth

How to remove it: Apply rubbing alcohol to the stain and then rub in some detergent. If the stain is still there after a normal wash, do it all over again. Alternatively, you can put hairspray on the stain and rub it in with a dry cloth before washing normally.

How to remove it: Lipstick is just like the women who wear it: It can be stubborn. However, there are solutions if it doesn't go away with normal washing. You can dab the stain with either a stain remover, rubbing alcohol, ammonia, or hairspray. Then, just rinse it off with warm water.

How to remove it: Pre-treat the stain with color-safe bleach and wash with detergent in warm or hot water. If the stain is still there, treat it with stain remover and wash again.

SaltWhat you need: white vinegar, a clean rag

How to remove it: In most cases, regular laundering will remove salt stains from clothes. However, for men's shoes, you must mix one tablespoon of white vinegar with one cup of water. Using a clean rag, dip into the solution and scrub the stains from the shoes. Once dry, they'll look like new.

ToothpasteWhat you need: ammonia, paper towel, clear dish liquid

How to remove it: If scrubbing it out with warm water doesn't work, mix three tablespoons of ammonia with one cup of water and dab the stain with this mixture and a paper towel. You can also combine one tablespoon of clear dish liquid and one cup of water, rub the stain with the mixture and use clear water to rinse. If the toothpaste is the whitening kind, you must work extremely fast if you don't want the peroxide it contains to leave a permanent white stain.

How to remove it: For red wine, pour salt onto the stain if it's still fresh, but don't rub it in. Rinse it off with warm water after two minutes. Also, you can pour white wine on the stain to keep it from setting. For a white wine stain, use carbonated soda water after blotting up as much as the wine as possible. If the stain has dried, mix up one part glycerin with two parts water and rub it onto the stain before washing normally.

general tips

Always read the clothing label to make sure you don't apply an ill-advised product or wash it in a way that could damage it.

Drying or ironing may set the stain permanently. Always use the hottest water allowed for each specific fabric.

If the stain remains once you've followed all the steps, repeat the process. Pre-washing and pre-soaking can also help.

Whenever feasible, soak the stain as long as possible.

On white linen and cotton, lemon juice can bleach away stains. However, it can damage colors.

no pain, no stain

Now that you know how to never be caught off-guard, you can live life to the fullest and never worry about trivial matters like staining your clothes.